A Gift from Above
by bunny500
Summary: An AU where Misa gets the death note first. [Ukita Hirokazu/Misa Amane]
1. Misa Begins

It's during one of her photo shoots that she sees it. She almost doesn't notice it at all actually. It's just a twitch of black that makes itself known, just barely caught in her peripheral vision. She doesn't know how important it is, then. Just how much her choice in that moment would change her life. Change history.

This time, they're taking pictures for the school year, while it's still nice outside. It's sunny and hot and she hates it a little but she's used to these sorts of conditions. Used to being under hot lights, sweating profusely, and still trying to look impossibly pretty. She's good at it. In any case, she's in a school uniform- with a gothic Lolita twist, of course. Right as they go on break, she sees it.

She was going to ignore it, figuring it probably wasn't all that important, but something stopped her. There was this odd little instinct in her mind saying 'You should take a chance. You should take it. How much could it hurt?' So she does, because Misa has always been one to follow her instincts. That's what had gotten her this far after all.

So, she wanders just a little bit away. She peeks over a bush to see just what had fallen out of the sky. It's a little black booklet and she wonders why it feels so significant. There's a pull, her heart beating fast, telling her she should take it. She should try and figure out what it is. It's frightening.

She wants to run, feels another, deeper instinct making her want to turn around and forget about it. She almost does. Instead, she ends up just standing there, looking at it, unable to make a choice.

"Misa!" someone calls from the set, "Hurry up, we need to get going."

She stays where she is, frozen in indecision.

"Misa!" is shouted again.

She grabs it. Puts it in the group of school books she's already holding.

"Misa Misa is coming!"

-=-1-=-

She gets a better look at it later that night. She's tired and sweaty and just wants a bath and to go to bed when she gets to her apartment that evening. She ends up taking a shower instead. She goes through her nightly routine, which involves a lot of skin care and hair products. She chooses to go and have a protein shake before putting on her chap stick and crawling into bed. As she's putting the shake together in her kitchen, she remembers the book.

Later, she's sitting on the couch, sipping on a straw, the book spread out in front of her. Her sleepy mind sparks awake in interest as she reads the contents. It's a little difficult- her English isn't perfect after all, but she begins to understand it. She also comprehends how dangerous it could be if it fell into the wrong hands. That doesn't stop her from setting down her glass and running to grab a pen.

She knows exactly who she will test it on.

-=-2-=-

It's about a week before she gets the news. She's feeling a little twitchy by then, her mind filled with both anxiety and impatience. She's afraid of someone finding out what she did but even more so that it won't have worked. That the person who she feels most deserves it won't be punished, won't be dead and unable to ever hurt anyone again. Thinking of that happening makes her skin crawl. She _needs_ to know and it's taking too long.

Finally, her manager pulls her aside. It's a Friday and she's just gotten finished with a signing. Fans are finally wandering off as she's brought away, security guards around her until her manager deems it safe enough to drag her off to have a word. Her nerves are buzzing, but she settles down to listen, not knowing what the woman wants to talk about.

"The man who…allegedly killed your parents died. He had a heart attack a couple of days ago." She said, "I only just found out. I felt you should know."

"Misa Misa doesn't know how to feel about this," she said, looking at the ground and doing her best (which was pretty amazing, if she said so herself) to appear conflicted, "Misa is relieved that he won't be hurting anyone else but is also sad."

Because if there is one thing Misa is, it isn't stupid. Sure, she's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but she's a damn good actor. She's amazing at pretending emotion, at understanding other people and their motives. She doesn't plan on getting caught, either. Not for this man's murder.

"Why?" She asks, looking at her in slight confusion.

"Death is always sad." Misa said, even as her heart sang.

Her manager smiled at her, a little soft, a little sad.

"You're a better person than I am." She said.

-=-3-=-

When she finally got home she was so happy it felt like her heart was going to burst. _'He's dead_ ' she thought in sing-song, desperately, viciously satisfied, ' _he's dead, he's dead, he's dead_ '.

She looks at the notebook, which she'd pulled out of it's hiding place under her couch, and she knows what she's going to do. She realized a long time ago that the justice system isn't infallible, that people like him go free all the time. Knows that she doesn't want anyone to suffer like she did. To see a killer walk free.

' _No one else_ ,' she thinks.

Her pen sets to paper.


	2. Mikami Finds God

Mikami does his best to be a good person. He does not lie or steal. He does not hurt other people if he can help it. But when Kira starts his work, he can't help but agree with him. As a lawyer who fought desperately to put guilty criminals into jail, he knew well the thought of ' _wouldn't it be better if people like them just died?_ '

Maybe that was wrong but he couldn't bring himself to care. He'd seen too many guilty people walk free, unrepentant, to have any faith in humanity or the justice system. He knew plenty who deserved to have died. Deserved to have been punished for their crimes. He kept his mouth shut, not wanting to suffer ridicule on either side, but as time went on he only clung tighter to those beliefs.

He kept up with his work, tried to make Kira's work easier by getting as many guilty people into jail as possible. It just didn't feel like enough. When one of them escaped without justice being done, without consequences, the hatred built ever more in his gut. He knew they were guilty- so what if there wasn't enough evidence? They needed to be punished.

Those thoughts toiled in his head like aged wine. Sitting and gaining potency in his mind. It felt already that Kira was pushing for action, for change. Would it really be so wrong if he… helped? He knew already who should have been convicted- who deserved to die. He wanted to help Kira, no matter what. His path seemed clear.

-=-1-=-

He's walking to the office on a cool morning. It's nearing fall and he's only just begun his real work. His God was telling him what to do. He knew this. He just had to look for the signs. He hears a voice and somehow it catches his attention.

"—People like them deserve to be punished, don't they? Maybe it'll make the world a better place."

He turned, trying to catch who had spoken. At first all he saw was an average high school boy. Then he looked to the person walking next to him. There was another high school uniform there, but the person wearing it was beautiful. He could've been divine, he was so lovely. He spoke again and Mikami's ears latched onto that voice like a drowning man to a boat.

"I'm not saying it's a perfect idea but there's a chance of it changing things for the better. Potential criminals might see this happening and choose not to go through with it. That's all I'm saying."

"I don't know. It seems pretty crazy to me, Light."

Light. That name seemed so fitting. It almost couldn't have been a coincidence.

Could it?

-=-2-=-

Mikami stopped by that area every morning, adding it to his morning routine. He listened for that lovely voice, let the words from Light guide him. He followed what that voice told him must be done. It was his calling. He was sure at this point- Light was Kira.

And Kira was God.

He'd started snapping small photographs when he could. For what man wouldn't want a shrine for their god so that they could worship him? He'd looked into the teen, going into whatever records of him were available to the public. Light, as it turned out, had been an outstanding student and community member, even going so far as to help the police in some of their investigations.

He was too perfect to be anything but holy.

"Did you finish that math work, Light?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah I did. I'm not going to let you cheat off of me, Haru."

Mikami breathed in heavily at the sound of God's voice. A shiver worked its way down his spine, his knees weak as he tried to casually lean against a nearby wall, attempting to listen in on more of the conversation.

"No, no! That wasn't why I was asking!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was just. Y'know, hoping you could help me understand it?"

"Oh. Well then-"

They were out of range now. Mikami had to stand there for a long while to regain his bearings. Something about his God just had such a powerful effect on him. Standing in his presence, hearing his voice, was near impossible. He wanted to show Light just how much he appreciated him, appreciated his work, but he knew he had to wait.

Until then, he would just have to do his best to be _worthy_ of meeting with him.

-=-3-=-

That night he set to his work. The work that God had gifted just to him. He knew what he must do.

He dressed for the night. He pulled his hair up into a ponytail, caught it all under a swimming cap, then put on a hat over it. He pulled on two pairs of latex gloves. This type was hard to track, but the finger pads were too thin on their own and might show his prints. He dressed in a generic black hoodie and pants.

Then he left for Murasaki Kaeda's (a criminal who he knew was guilty) home, a scalpel cradled in his palm.

He returned home much later, the gloves already thrown away in a dumpster on his return trip. There were only small splatters of red on his clothes but even that was unnoticeable. Black clothes were good for this sort of thing. He put them in the wash, even though he knew it would probably be better to burn them. But then again, people would likely notice that sort of thing, too.

He went to his desk and checked three names off his list. He smiled.

It was good to do God's work.

-=-4-=-

Something was wrong with God. He wasn't acting right.

This morning, when Mikami had gone to his usual hiding place, he'd looked over to see Light frowning at the ground. He seemed conflicted about something. Finally, his school mates dragged him into conversation. Mikami could hear him clearly when he spoke.

"I don't know anymore. Don't you think that Kira's methods might be wrong?" he said.

"What do you mean Light?"

"Well, when you think about it, Kira is very black and white about things. It doesn't seem like he really understands the root causes of crime."

"Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way."

"Yeah, it just seems… childish. Poverty causes crime in a lot of ways. People aren't just good or evil. They're complicated. You can't just kill them and think crime will go away."

Mikami couldn't believe it. What was going on? How could God say such things? Could it be that he wasn't-

No. Mikami refused to believe it. There was no way.

He continued with his work.

-=-5-=-

Another morning not long after, he accidentally ran into God. Light apologized and offered him a smile. It didn't seem genuine. He looked just as tired and conflicted as he always did. He left with his friends.

Mikami knew now who Light's father was. Knew that he could very well be influencing his child's beliefs. His peers could be pushing him too.

As he watched God walk away, the gears in his head turned, trying to interpret the meaning behind his expression. Then he realized. It was a cry for help- why else would he have run into him? Why else would he have said such things in range of his hearing?

God was surrounded by heathens who were poisoning his mind. He needed a way out.

Mikami could do that.

-=-6-=-

A/N: Just wanted to point out that Light is not Kira at all and has nothing to do with Misa at this point. Mikami is just delusional in a way that I feel reflects his personality in canon. More Misa appearances will be had in the next chapter. I'm just doing some set up right now :)


	3. Ryuk Makes His Appearance

Misa isn't going to lie. It's not easy work. She has to balance her modeling and acting careers, as well as make appearances for her fans. Her manager is a big help, but it's still a lot of work. She ends up writing a couple names whenever she can get a break in her schedule. She's lucky she's so good at remembering names and faces or else it would be even more ridiculously difficult.

She's tired and strained but she refuses to give up. Doing this is important. She's good enough at acting that no one really realizes how hard she's pushing herself. She writes down names between gigs- whenever she gets the time. She usually already gets home pretty late in the evening but now she ends up staying awake even later to put down more names. In the morning she gets up early, tries to eat something with protein to give her energy, and goes to her computer to find more names and faces.

She's so tired, she considers taking her one day off as an _actual_ day off. As in no writing in the death note, no thinking about work matters, just hanging out and watching movies while eating all the snacks she wants. She knows, in the end, that she can't afford to do that. That knowledge doesn't stop her from desperately wishing that she could though.

Instead, while she does allow herself a couple of cookies, she still sticks to her usual diet- the one her manager told her to follow. Then she sits down, puts a movie on, and sets to work. She looks at data-bases documenting criminals and writes as many names as she can. Her hand starts to cramp up after a while, so she decides to take a small break. It's as she stands up to go grab a drink that she sees him.

At first she thinks some creep has broken into her apartment and she pulls in a deep lungful of air in to scream. Then she sees his face and all her breath rushes right back out of her. He's tall, impossibly so, with a grinning maw full of shark teeth. His eyes look like a fish's and they bulge out of his head. His outfit… well, it's actually an aesthetic she can get behind. It's all black and goth, with buckles, pretty crosses, and chains. For a moment she can't breathe, she can't think- her heart full of terror.

It's only for a moment though. Misa very rarely lets herself feel scared. She's already felt the most afraid that she thinks anyone ever could and come out with those exact fears coming true. She refuses to just sit there in silence or to scream. She could be doing better things. Such as questioning the intruder.

"Who are you?" she asks, picking up a nearby lamp. It could be a good weapon or, at the very least, a good distraction.

He laughs, an odd little _hyuk, hyuk, hyuk_ noise, "I'm the Shinigami that owns that notebook. Name's Ryuk."

"Oh." She says intelligently, "Well, um. Misa Misa is Misa Misa. Nice to meet you."

She's not sure if that's the correct response to this sort of situation. Really though, she doesn't think there _is_ a correct reaction. Ryuk seems to think it's a good one, if his pleased laughter is any indication She offers a shaky grin in response, her heart still pounding, but she's calming down now. He's kind of scary looking but not enough that she's thrown by him. Especially not now that she's pretty sure he's not out to hurt her.

"Are you going to want it back?" she asks, picking up the death note with the hand that isn't holding the lamp.

"No, no. I don't plan on taking it away from you," he says, "I'd like to take a look at what you've done with it though."

She looks at him with suspicion, but he laughs at that too. She grins a little. Maybe it's stupid but she can't help liking people who laugh a lot. Even if their laugh is really weird. They just brighten up the room a little or at least she thinks so. She hands him the note and turns back to her desk, feeling a little awkward as he pages through her work. She tries to put the lamp back in its original spot. Unsure where that is, she just ends up putting it towards the back corner of her desk.

"Whoa…" says Ryuk, "This is pretty impressive."

"Isn't it?" she asks, preening a little.

"I've never heard of a human who has written this many names in such a short time. Most people would freak out and quit."

"Really?" That seems pretty crazy to her. Why stop when it had so much potential for good? Yeah, getting caught might seem a bit scary but she doesn't actually care as long as she can bring bad people to justice. It seems strange that other people would feel differently.

He stares at her for a long moment, his fish-like eyes appearing dead in his frozen face. Eventually, he chuckles and puts the notebook back into her hands.

"You're an odd one aren't you?" he asks.

She shrugs. It's not like she particularly cares. It doesn't seem like he's really a danger so she wanders into her kitchen to get that drink. She gets a glass out and pours some juice in it. When she looks up again, she can see that he'd followed her into the room.

"Want anything to drink?" It's a little late to be asking that, but she doesn't want to be rude.

"No," he says, still staring at her as if she were a particularly interesting bug he might be about to step on (although maybe that was just her overactive imagination), "… I wouldn't turn down an apple though."

She nods and finds the bag of apples she bought just a couple of days ago. She sees him eyeing the entire bag with puppy eyes (as much as he can have them) and passes him all of it.

"Just save one for Misa!" she says.

He nods, but she doesn't think he'll actually go through with his agreement, so she just sighs and heads back into the main room of her apartment. She picks up the notebook, settles down on the couch, and gets back to work.

He wanders into the main room a little while later (she can tell because he's chomping rather loudly, making gross noises because he's eating with his mouth wide open) and asks, still chewing on an apple, "Don't you have any questions?"

"Hmm." She sets down her pen while she thinks, "Can other people see you?"

"No. Only you can see and hear me."

"Okay!" she grins. Then she eyes his ridiculous, huge teeth and his stretched lips, "Is it possible for you to chew with your mouth closed?"

"No. Sorry." He says, sounding entirely unrepentant.

"Well, that's all I wanted to know." She says as she picks up her pen again.

He laughs.

-=-0-=-

A/N: I'm setting it up so that Ryuk takes 2 weeks instead of 5 days to go find his death note. This gives Misa a little more time to get started. Also! Thank you for the reviews :)


	4. Light Thinks Some Deep Thoughts

Light is just your average high school student. He has big plans for his future though. He wants to go into the police force like his father, and move up the ranks until he can replace him as police chief. Either that or maybe become a private investigator. He's not sure which, because either one seems like it could be a dead end, could be boring, despite his efforts.

His home life isn't bad, don't get him wrong, and neither is his school life, but he's… tired. He's bored all the time. Nothing catches his interest or makes him really excited anymore. He's known all the things he needed to for high school since sixth grade, he's been prepared for the college exams since he went into high school, and by now he knows most of the material that's going to be relevant for his time actually at the university.

It's boring.

He kind of wants to stop what he's doing and just leave- see if there's anything interesting lurking elsewhere in the world. Instead, he sets himself down and studies for an exam he already knows he's going to ace, and clings tightly to the hope that when he finally gets done with his degree, his career will be better than this.

-=-1-=-

Two weeks after a particularly bad dip in his mood, something fascinating was happening. It was a relief, even if a mass murderer was on the loose. Someone, named Kira by the general populace, was killing criminals with heart attacks. No one knew how he was doing it or what had triggered his choice. Online support forums were already cropping up for this killer.

Light immediately began investigating the deaths and trying to figure out how the criminal actually managed to cause them. He'd looked into each of the individuals deaths but hadn't found much. From police reports, he knew there weren't any finger prints, clothing fibers, or really any physical evidence. None of the guards in the prisons had reported seeing anything irregular. They'd tested the food the criminals had eaten but again there was nothing. Light couldn't think of any possible way that these murders had been carried out.

He felt bad for enjoying looking into this criminal and not finding anything. His father was working all the time now. Soichiro had hardly been at home at all in the past week. He was the police chief, so everyone seemed to expect that he would know what to do in this situation, and he needed to be ready to take action at a moment's notice. It was taking a heavy toll on an already hardworking man.

It didn't help that Light actually kind of agreed with Kira. He knew that killing was wrong but at the same time, weeding out the bad eggs didn't seem like such a bad idea. Some people kind of deserved to die, if he was speaking honestly. He felt that Kira was coming from the right place at the very least.

Light tried really hard to feel guilty for his thoughts but couldn't really bring himself to.

-=-2-=-

One day, as Light and his friends were walking to school, someone brought up Kira.

"What that Kira is doing- it's really awful, isn't it?" a girl named Miki asks.

"What makes you think that?" Light returns.

"Just killing people for no reason! That's wrong. It's sick."

"I don't know about that. I think Kira is trying to clean things up a bit. Besides, people like them deserve to be punished, don't they? Maybe it'll make the world a better place."

"How can killing people make things better?" Miki's face scrunches up, "Murder is wrong even if they are criminals."

"I'm not saying it's a perfect idea but there's a chance of it changing things for the better. Potential criminals might see this happening and choose not to go through with it. That's all I'm saying."

"I don't know. It seems pretty crazy to me, Light." Says Haru, finally speaking up.

Light shrugs and they move onto a different topic. It seems strange to him that they're not listening to what he has to say. Normally, most people in his class listen to reason and understand his viewpoint with only a little prodding. Something seems off about it not going that way. He wonders if Kira is really just that controversial.

-=-3-=-

With nothing changing on the Kira front after a couple of days, he instead begins to look into the causes of crime. Something about that last conversation is sticking to him. He can't shake the feeling that maybe he's wrong for once. It pushes him to do more research on the topic.

First, he looks into the correlation between crime rates and the use of the death penalty. Right now, Kira's attacks have been lowering the crime rate, but that might just be the shock factor. It may not even last that long. He looks it up. He finds that the death penalty actually increases rates of violent crime. He frowns to himself. This might not hold true with a case like Kira's, but it's similar enough that he doesn't think that the drop in crime will hold through.

He does some research on the root causes of crime. He knows there's no real way to measure that or to be sure of your findings, because correlation is not always causation, but he'd still like to know. He reads many, many articles on the topic to try and figure out what most common theory is.

It's very, very complex (Well, not really for _him_ , but it probably would be for most people). He can't help but feel a little embarrassed for not even thinking to question his assumptions before now. A lot of it, he finds, is because of bad home situations- at least for young people. Poverty and unemployment also seem to play a huge role. That's not all of it of course, but those stick out to him somehow.

Light is very rarely ever wrong. He's used to getting his way, to being able to talk circles around his teachers and other students. He's always been confident in what he believes. Thinking of things this way and trying to find out if his assumptions are mistaken are not things he does often, if ever. It's a bit hard to get a grasp on the idea that he could very well be mistaken on this front.

It seems to him suddenly that his views were very… 'entitled' is the word. Maybe arrogant. Thinking that people just did crime for the hell of it. That all of them had the same opportunities that he has and choose to do crime for no reason. He'd never once thought to question what other peoples living situations were like or what might actively _push_ a person into a bad situation where they just did what they had to in order to survive. He'd just thought they should know better and that if they didn't then they were choosing to be ignorant.

When Light goes to bed that night, he is troubled. He doesn't know what to think and his mind is trying to figure out how much he wants to let his world view change due to the information he has found. Without coming to a solid conclusion, he falls asleep.

-=-4-=-

A/N: Light's view isn't going to change all at once, don't worry! I feel like such a strong willed character wouldn't just change their mind in one night/ a couple of days, even with overwhelming evidence. Light seems like the kind of guy who clings to those thoughts whether or not they may be inaccurate.


	5. Our Favorite Detective

L is in the middle of an interesting but predictable case in France when he gets the call. Or rather, a contacts gets the call, goes through to another contact, who gets to Watari who then passes it onto L. It's far more interesting than what he's working on now, in any case. So he finishes up quickly in Europe before he's on his way over to Japan.

There's a murderer at large on the islands. He'd been eliminating criminals- killing off people who got out of prison early or those who had done a violent crime and were still in them. So far as the police found, there was no physical evidence available- and this killer had been all over Japan, people on opposite sides of the country dying in the same moment. There weren't any leads on a motive either. At first, they hadn't even been sure it was murders because the inmates were having heart attacks. It quickly became obvious though, when thirty were dying of the same causes every day for a week.

With no leads, the police had no choice but to call in the government, which had then reached out to other world governments for guidance. Someone along the way thought to call L in. They probably didn't think to ask their boss for permission or so it seemed based off of the reactions when he gave his speech in the world conference about the problem. Considering the circumstances, he couldn't blame them.

So, L opened up correspondence with the Japanese police force and got to work on investigating.

-=-1-=-

His findings were very interesting. There were many criminals who had committed various crimes being killed but two types in particular were being singled out. There were criminals who got off early for good behavior and there were those who committed a crime involving children. Not in any certain way- just if children were present to see the crime being done, if they were victims of it, if their parents were hurt. If children were involved at all with the crime, the criminal responsible was 30% more likely to be killed by Kira.

This heavily suggested personal childhood trauma. Most likely, Kira was trying to get revenge or to protect other children from what he suffered. The fact that criminals who were released early were also killed more often pointed to two possible meanings. Either Kira thought that they were likely to harm children again or the person who had hurt him had gone free despite being guilty.

There was also the timing of the murders. They seemed almost completely randomly placed. For example, on this last Wednesday 5 people died at six in the morning, then another 12 at ten, 8 at twelve, then 3 at four in the evening. Some days, up to fifty people were killed and on each day that people died, the deaths were just as nonsensical in timing.

Location also appeared to be entirely up to chance. People in prisons across the country from each other often died in the same little hourly groups. It was almost like Kira was just drawing names of prisoners out of a hat at random and killing them with ease.

He did not think that this Kira was particularly smart. Whoever he was, he seemed to have childish reasoning and a very black and white mentality. Although, given how well the murder method was hidden and how the times of death were strategically dispersed, he could be mistaken.

L was looking forward to the challenge of catching him.

-=-2-=-

Misa sighs and leans back in her cushy chair. She'd just finished doing another fan appearance and was getting ready to go do a shoot before she could finally get home. Right now, she was being given a short break. She doesn't have enough time or energy to write any names at the moment, so she just sips on her bottle of cold water and tries to relax.

Ryuk enters her field of vision from above. If it were possible for him to frown, she thinks he'd be doing it right now. "You're so busy you're making _me_ tired." he said. She giggled a little. She was on her own right now, so there was no reason to avoid talking to him. It's actually a bit of a relief to have him tag along, instead of her being all alone in all these different situations. Well, she'd never technically been without company, but she'd always wanted a friend to be there too.

"Tell Misa about it." she says, once she stops laughing. She pushes herself out of her chair so that she can go and grab an apple from the small cooler they'd arranged for her. She'd put in a special request for apples and no one had really thought to deny her. Her manager was giving her the side eye when she caught on to how many apples were disappearing but Misa had ignored it. It wasn't like _she_ was the one eating them.

"We should be home in," she looked at the clock, "Three hours, hopefully."

"Why do you do all this stuff anyway?" he asked, "You know you could just write some rich person's name in the note and have them give you all their money."

Misa actually started to contemplate this for a moment before she caught herself, "Misa Misa would never do that!"

He gave her an incredulous look and laughed in her face, "You sure about that?"

She pouted. She was about to respond but then an intern who worked for the same company as she did knocked on the door. She told him to come in and he shyly opened the door.

"Sorry, Miss Misa, but we need to get going. The makeup for the photoshoot starts in a half hour."

"Okay, then!" she said, and got up with a grin on her face, "Misa Misa is ready to go!"

-=-3-=-

Light felt a shiver go down his spine. He looked over his shoulder. No one was there of course but he still felt mildly put off.

He hadn't been getting much sleep lately. He'd been mulling over his findings and trying to find some way to excuse his own beliefs or to say that those studies had been wrong. It was increasingly appearing that he was actually wrong in this case. That hadn't stopped him from looking for holes in the other argument though.

Another thing that was bothering him were these shivers. He didn't know what was making him feel this way- like he was being watched. It was creeping him out. Not that he'd actually said anything about it to his parents or friends. Maybe it was only the lack of sleep getting to him, after all. There was no need to worry anyone. Besides that, he felt like he was being ridiculous- paranoid and nervous for no reason. Pushing back the fear creeping up on him, he kept walking (maybe just a tad bit faster than usual) toward his home.

He continued sending glances over his shoulder anyway, just in case.

-=-4-=-

A/N: Just wanted to add that updates might be a little slow because school just started where I'm at & I have a lot of homework to do. I'll still try to have at least 1 chapter out a week (no promises though!)

Also, a huge thank you to everyone who's reviewed! I love hearing what you guys have to say! :)


	6. Hit and Miss

Light was having trouble ignoring the feeling of being followed. It'd only been happening for maybe two weeks, but it still frustrated and tired him. He was on edge all the time when he wasn't busy contemplating his world views. He was not the type to be exhausted by things like this but it was starting to grate at his nerves.

He's walking to school one day when one of his friends brought up his strange mood.

"Hey Light, you've been pretty quiet lately."

"Yeah. What's going on man?" asked Haru.

"I don't know," he said, putting on a harmless expression, "I've just been thinking a lot is all."

"About what?" chimed in Miki.

"It's nothing. Just school I guess," he said, waving them off. They all seemed to share a doubtful look but let him keep to himself as they went back to their conversation.

-=-1-=-

A couple of days later, they brought up Kira. Some of his friends seemed to have switched sides on the topic. He ended up shaking his head at them and bringing up his own new view as tactfully as he could.

"I don't know. Don't you think that Kira's methods might be wrong?" he asked.

"What do you mean, Light?"

"Well, when you think about it, Kira is very black and white about things. It doesn't seem like he really understands the root causes of crime."

"Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way."

"Yeah, it just seems… childish. Poverty causes crime in a lot of ways. People aren't just good or evil. They're complicated. You can't just kill them and think crime will go away."

"That's a pretty drastic change of view," said Miki, looking suspicious.

Light shrugged, "What you said to me last week made me look into it. I've changed my mind."

"That's crazy," muttered Haru, "Light Yagami changing his mind? The world must be ending."

Light laughed with them, then stopped as a shiver made its way down his spine. He looked back, towards where they'd come from, but there was no one there.

-=-2-=-

Not a week after, Light runs into a man, their shoulders colliding roughly and almost knocking him over He apologizes and thinks nothing of it. He's too lost in his thoughts to feel the eyes tracking his movement as he continues on his way.

-=-3-=-

Misa has been working a lot and hardly has time for the news, but she still finds out about the Kira controversy. It's a bit of a surprise to her that people have noticed what she's doing already- she finds herself pleased when she finds out how many supporters she has. In any case, she still doesn't have a lot of time to dedicate to keeping track of world events.

So, when she comes home one day with Ryuk buzzing with excitement, she's not sure what it's about. He tells her to turn on the TV. She does. There's a news report on and she settles in to watch it.

"Today, a strange video stopped all regular broadcasts in Kanto," says the reporter, "A man named Lind L. Taylor claimed to be the famous detective L and issued a challenge to Kira. He said that he would find him and catch him, saying that murder is wrong even when it is the murders of violent criminals. He further pressed Kira to try and kill _him_. However, Kira did not respond, which has led some of his supporters to question his choices. Out interviewing some of his followers who are staging a protest is Maki Kagetsu. What do people have to say about this, Kagetsu?"

"Misa can't believe she missed this!" she yells, turning the TV off.

" _Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk,_ " for once, Misa does not appreciate his laugh.

" _Ryuk_ why didn't you tell Misa about this sooner?"

"You were at work," he says, shrugging, "Plus, I wanted to see how he would react."

"Did anything interesting happen?" she asks. She acknowledges that it's silly to let herself get distracted so easily, but she really does want to know.

"Hmm, well…" he trails off.

"Yes?" she demands impatiently.

"Give me an apple and I'll tell you." he says.

She huffs at him and rolls her eyes, "There's fresh apples in the kitchen."

"You're no fun."

He goes and grabs an apple anyway. When he returns, she looks at him expectantly.

"The guy on the TV, Tam or whatever," he says with a bite of apple in his mouth.

"Taylor," she corrects.

"Yeah, that guy. Well, he wasn't really L. He was a murderer or something. He started laughing about going free and then the screen switched over to an L."

"You mean L actually showed himself?"

"No. It was just the letter," he says, and Misa is surprised to hear that he actually sounds disappointed, "but then _he_ started talking… said something about justice and you bring wrong."

She frowns, "Well that's dumb!"

"Hmm? How do you mean?"

"Misa Misa is doing the right thing! No criminal should go free. Misa doesn't see why L isn't agreeing with her."

She's actually put out that he isn't. She'd thought maybe the detective would see where she was coming from and would understand her efforts for justice. Now she's wondering whether or not he actually cares if bad people are punished for their action.

Ryuk shrugs. "I don't know," he says, "Human morals are all kind of obscure to me."

Misa frowns. She just sits there for a moment, thinking about it. After a long while, she jumps to her feet abruptly.

"Well, that's enough thinking about that! Misa has better things to do."

So, for yet another night, she sits down at her computer desk, picks up a pen, and starts writing names. She ignores Ryuk's laughter from behind her.

"You humans are hilarious!"

-=-4-=-

L wonders if his calculations were wrong. He'd assumed that Kira would see the broadcast and act out. He hadn't. That meant that he'd either missed his location or the times he would likely be watching the TV or be out where he would see one. Instead, Kira had either missed it completely or he had pointedly ignored it. Of course, this was also relying on his hypothesis about Kira's murder method and his capability. Perhaps Kira would end up killing Lind L. Taylor anyway in the next couple of days.

If he chose to do that, it would at least give L _something_ to work with. So far, this Kira was proving to be irritating and incredibly illusive. L kind of liked it, because it was somewhat exciting, but he preferred to be right (and yes, he knew that was childish).

In any case, the situation seemed to have had the effect of making them both look like idiots. L because he had so misjudged Kira and had also apparently let a criminal go loose and Kira because he hadn't done anything in retaliation.

L frowns and bites at his thumb nail as he thinks.

-=-5-=-

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! :D I'm glad to hear you guys like my work!


	7. Of Chloroform and Disappointed Shinigami

Light is walking home from school as usual when it happens. He'd separated from his group of friends a while back. They'd been passing by a shop and he'd seen a magazine covering the common theories about L and Kira. So, he'd waved goodbye and gone in to buy it. He knew that he should probably stick with a group, but he wasn't going to let his sudden and seemingly unfounded paranoia stop him from living his life.

He's reading a page from the magazine as he walks, taking a shortcut through a small alley. It's bright and in the middle of the day and he's been through here plenty of times, so he thinks that he's safe. He's wrong.

A wet cloth is pressed against his mouth and nose. He takes in a quick breath in shock at the unexpected contact, notices the pungent sweet smell of it, and holds his breath as he realizes what's happening. His fingertips are going numb by the time that he attempts to elbow his attacker in the midsection. He can feel it hit, but the person doesn't let go, just uses their other arm to wrap around his arm and stomach. Light struggles but in the end, he still takes in another breath.

His vision's going dark and his hearing goes fuzzy. The last thing he notices before he slips into unconsciousness is a hot breath against his neck and a body pressing up against his back.

-=-1-=-

When Light makes his way back into the land of the wakeful, his head _hurts_. He doesn't think that he's ever experienced something as painful as this. He breathes deeply- then stops. He clenches his teeth. There's cloth in between them- he's gagged. He blinks open his eyes, squinting at the light, and tries to ignore the taste and texture of the fabric in his mouth. His stomach rolls as he tries to turn his head and get a look around.

There's really not much to work with. He's in a fairly small room with one small, hanging lightbulb a little ways in front of him. There's a camera on the floor across the room, facing him. He stares at it for a moment, but there's not really anything that he can do about it, so he moves on. There's a door to his right, but other than that, he's completely closed in. He shifts around a little to try and look over his shoulder, but a wave of nausea hits him and he can't.

He's panicking, he realizes, his arms twitching and his lungs only pulling in short gasps. He can't seem to stop. He pulls his hands into fists and tries to breathe more slowly, more deeply. It takes him a while, but he eventually manages to calm himself. It helps that nothing new is happening. By the time he's settled down, he estimates that it's been fifteen to twenty minutes, but no one has disturbed him. That gives him a little more room to relax.

He's kind of exhausted, even though he's only been awake for a little while. His head aches and his stomach turns whenever he moves even a little. He takes a moment to close his eyes and just breathe. Then he opens them again and sets his mind to work. There's no sense in just sitting here like an idiot after all, and he's already gotten the instinctual panic response out of the way.

He wriggles his arms around a bit. They're tied behind his back. From what he can tell, his wrists are bound together and his elbows are secured to the chair he's on. The chair itself seems like just a normal dining seat. He shifts his weight around, stops and feels dizzy, but he's got the information he wanted. Now he knows that the chair is heavy and very, very sturdy. He's also realized that his ankles are tied to the legs of it.

There is no way he can think of to get loose from his bonds. He closes his eyes and ignores the little bite of anxiety in his chest. He focuses on something else for the time being- the reason for him being kidnapped.

If he had to guess, he'd say that this person (or people?) is trying to either collect ransom or get back at his father for something. As police chief, the man has plenty of enemies. It would not be a far stretch for one of them to kidnap one of his children for vengeance. Light eyes the camera again, his mind flashing through all of the different reasons it could be there- to send footage of them hurting him to his father, to watch him, to just make him uncomfortable, or any other number of foul things.

He shakes his head a little, holding onto the spike of queasiness to distract himself from those thoughts. In any case, he is incredibly grateful that he was the one taken instead of Sayu.

He does not realize quite how wrong he is until his kidnapper finally shows his face many hours later.

-=-2-=-

Misa's day off comes around again and she takes the opportunity to actually be lazy for once. Just about every criminal in Japan who she felt needed to be eliminated was gone and she felt she was owed a break. It was pretty selfish, she knew- relaxing and having fun instead of helping other people and making the world a better place. But darn it, Misa was tired! She'd been at work pretty much constantly for a whole month.

So, she let herself have a little me-time and curled up on her couch to watch a movie. She even ate a whole bar of chocolate. Ryuk hovered nearby, a contemplative look on his face. She patted the cushion next to her, offering him a place to sit. He actually did, which was kind of a surprise, since he usually preferred to be up in the air.

He was staring at her. It took her a couple of minutes to notice, since she was actually invested in the movie, but when she did, she just stared right back at him. It wasn't really possible for him to frown but it still felt to her as if he was. She paused the movie.

"Ryuk, is something wrong?"

He stares for a while longer. It's enough time that Misa reaches out a hand to touch his worriedly.

"Ahhh… I'm just wondering," he said at last, his fingers twitching under hers, "What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" she asks, tilting her head to the side.

"You've killed all the people in Japan that you wanted to, right?"

"Most of them," she says, still not seeing the problem.

"So you're done then?" he asks, his expression odd, maybe a little disappointed.

"Of course not!"

Now he just looks confused, "But you said…?"

"Misa Misa is done with Japan." she says.

He stares at her, uncomprehending.

"Misa can't stop here!" she says, feeling offended that he would think she would, "There are people all over the world who need Misa's help."

His grin returns slowly to full vibrancy, his eyes gleaming.

"You plan to-? The whole world?"

"Yes!" she says.

He cackles and she can't help but laugh along with him- overjoyed that he understands, that he's as thrilled about this as she is. Misa is going to change the world. She's glad she's got a friend who's with her.

-=-3-=-

A/N: To the Guest who commented on ch.6: I have some words to say at you, should you stop by this fic again and check what my response was to your review.

1\. I see Light Yagami as a complex character who at the very beginning wanted the best for people. Yes, he corrupted pretty damn fast, but he was not born a murderer with no sympathy- just with the potential to become one.

2\. I believe that with sufficient evidence and something to spark his interest- something to make him actually look into causes of crime- he could definitely change his opinion. Not as fast as I'm writing it happening, hell no, but I definitely think he could. I do not believe in any character being unchangeable.

3\. Ok, quick question. By the time Light had become Kira, by the time he had sunk that low and gone that far, do you really think he was looking into every person who he murdered's backstory? Because I don't think so. At that point, he didn't care if they were innocent, he wanted to send a message and he didn't care who he had to cut down to do it.

4\. I am a college student writing this for fun when I can get some downtime. My work is not about to be perfect and I'm not looking for a completely airtight story here. Also, I am not writing this for you. If you enjoy it then fine, good, I'm glad and I'm happy to share, but if not? Then alright, bye, have a very nice day. Please go read something else that _does_ make you happy.


	8. It's Not Paranoia

It's been a couple of hours and Light is dozing a bit. He can't help it- he's tired, kind of scared, and there's nothing for him to do besides stew in his thoughts. Then he's startling awake as the door opens. It creaks rather loudly and he's been on edge for some time now, so even if it _were_ more quiet he'd probably still have woken up.

He turns his head toward the sound, alarm written across his face, and finally sees his attacker. In the doorway is a man who Light vaguely recognizes but can't place. He has long, dark hair and glasses. His face is stern and if Light were passing him on the street, he would believe him to be just a regular businessman. Light commits his face to memory.

It actually takes him a moment to understand the expression the man is wearing. He looks… awed, worshipful maybe. Light's mouth goes dry. This is definitely not a kidnapping to attack his father. His face tells Light that this man recognizes him, admires him, and wants him for something. He feels a little sick.

Light has had admirers who've made him uncomfortable before. Girls who would push his boundaries and make him feel like a cornered animal, people who weren't subtle about their attraction to him on the street, and various other situations that made him uneasy. But there have always been avenues through which he can escape. This time, it does not look like he will be able to, and that is terrifying in a way that Light has never thought to contemplate.

" _God_ ," the man says, and that's all, before he's bowing low to the floor. Light's teeth clench around the gag as a shudder wracks his shoulders. Surely, surely this man couldn't mean- surely he didn't think that _Light_ was god. This was obviously just some miscommunication, never mind the man' tone of voice.

After a moment, he is standing tall again, though his body language exudes only respect. Light thinks it would be funny that he would act this way toward a teenager who he has tied up in his basement if he weren't the one in this situation.

"I am Mikami Teru, your faithful servant," the man says. Light's brows draw together in incredulousness but Mikami isn't paying attention to him now, instead pacing fervently around the room.

"I've been doing your work, ridding the world of filth. And I was keeping my distance, waiting until you reached out to me- when it was time, but then you walked into me and I knew. Knew that those heathens… those _corrupters_ were hurting you."

Light stares at the delusional man with wide eyes as he rants. He just keeps talking and talking while Light grows increasingly alarmed. He puts the pieces together in his mind and it doesn't look like a pretty picture. He can't help but be relieved on some strange level because at least now he knows that his fears were not unfounded. As more words tumble out of Mikami's mouth, he grows very aware that he had not been senselessly paranoid and, in fact, had every reason to be anxious over these past few weeks.

Suddenly, the man's focus once again turns to him.

"I did do as you wish, didn't I, my Lord? I did well?" he asks, but there's a dangerous glint in his eye as he gently pulls the gag from Light's lips.

Light knows what he has to do.

He smiles, trying to look gentle and caring, "Yes, Mikami. You did perfectly for me." He speaks softly but surely. His best option is to just play along until he is found- he doesn't know what Mikami will do to him if he doesn't live up to expectations.

Mikami smiles at him in return and he has to fight back a shudder.

-=-1-=-

L meets with his small task force. It took him longer than expected to weed out all of the extra people who he didn't want but now he's down to the five who he wants to be there. Everything appears to be going how he wishes it to. However, a couple of days later, Police Chief Yagami is looking unusually tense. He works all the harder for it, trying to distract himself, but L doesn't like unexpected variables.

"Mr. Yagami, is something wrong?"

The man startles from where he was leaned over some papers. He looks up at L, every inch of his face simultaneously exhausted and tense. L notices from the corner of his eye that Matsuda has perked up, suddenly concerned, on the other side of the room.

"Um, I can tell him, Mr. Yagami," he says, fidgeting.

"No, no," says Soichiro, resigned, "I might as well get it out in the open. My son has gone missing."

L blinks. Somehow, he had not even remotely suspected that.

"Ah. When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago. His schoolbag was found near our house, so it's likely it was a kidnapping, but there's been no request for ransom or any contact at all, really."

L is mildly interested, but not honestly concerned beyond how much this will affect the man's abilities.

"There's already a group assigned to it, so it's best that I just keep working," Soichiro says, "They'll find him and get him home safe. I'm sure of it."

Even L, who is socially inept, can hear the doubt in his voice, but he doesn't say anything. It doesn't seem like his place. He just nods, acknowledging the man's words, before getting back to work.

-=-2-=-

"Hey, Misa?" says Ryuk.

She hums an affirmative that she's hearing what he's saying. Right now they're out in public, so she's a little confused as to what is so important that it could break their cover. She thumbs through some dresses on the rack from the shop they're in. She's disguised, of course- she wouldn't want to get caught out and about as Misa Misa, what with her popularity growing as of late.

"I just felt you should know…" he trails off.

She looks up at him for a second, prompting him to continue.

"I'm not on your side," he says, "I'm not on L's side either though."

She shrugs, although her brow is furrowed. She leaves the shop and goes into an alley for a moment. She turns to face him after doing a brief look around for anyone listening in.

"Misa doesn't care if you're on her side or not," she says. She isn't actually sure whether or not she's lying, but it doesn't really matter. What is significant isn't what you feel but what you _say_ \- at least that's what she'd learned from all of the people who she'd dealt with over the years.

"Misa just wants to know- are we still friends?" she asks. She feels somewhat conflicted for a number of reasons but she feels that this is important.

"Sure," says Ryuk with a shrug.

Misa smiles and says, "Awesome!"

Then she goes back to shopping, ignoring her feelings for now. She's got a date to get ready for after all.

-=-3-=-

Hirokazu Ukita is a nice, honest man, who acts more on his emotions than with his brain. Misa likes him well enough- she thinks he's pleasant to be around. She wouldn't really have been against dating him normally, despite his plain looks, but that isn't what she cares about right now. What she cares about is that he is a police officer.

Now, he may not personally be on the Kira case, but he might know someone who is- who she can get information from.

Before now, she's known that L was an issue, but now she actually doesn't want to get caught, which makes it more pressing. She's on a mission- to help as many people as possible and make the world a better place. Already Japan is mostly taken care of but the rest of the world still has awful people. People who could hurt others, hurt children, and not be punished.

Misa isn't going to let that happen. But to avoid that, she first had to evade being captured by L. If she had to, maybe even killing him. She hoped that things wouldn't go that far, but if the situation called for it, she would do anything. Even killing someone else who she thought was trying to protect people in his own way.

She's dressed in blacks, but in a much more tame style than usual, and smiles prettily at him over the table. They were in a nice restaurant and he had insisted on paying even though Misa was the wealthier of the two. She'd been a little surprised to have gotten a date with the man this easily but that was the benefit of having good connections (and telling said connections that she thought policemen were cute).

He's pleasant enough and the date goes better than she could have expected. He agrees to go on another date with her next week. It's on her day off, which kind of sucks, but Misa is determined to make it work.

When she gets home she grins and feels a little like dancing. Her plans are going perfectly.

-=-4-=-

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews!

To chibichibigirl: I'm not planning on this being a romance fic but I totally get what you're saying on the L x Misa front. It's always sad when people can't give them a good dynamic or really get Misa's character across. I'm really glad you like it!

To Guest: tbh it's going to grate on anyone's nerves when they're writing you free entertainment and you only have rude things to say. I am not a mind reader and from that review, figured you were a hate-commenter dropping by, which I'm not going to put up with (Also, I can't tell you apart from any of the other guests, so I assumed you were new). In any case, thank you for the clarification. I'm not expecting you or anyone else to agree with me about everything, I only expect for you not to be rude.

Fanfictionlurker1: To answer your question about AO3, I wasn't planning on actually writing a full fanfic. I was going to write a couple of one-shots, because I knew it would be hard to find the time to write a multi-chapter fic while dealing with school. I was also originally posting all of this over there. You're right about it in terms of readability, but I'm not sure what to do about the problem. Also, omg, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about the Light situation- hopefully what I have planned will live up to your expectations!


	9. Kira Makes a Mistake

Light doesn't know how long he's been in this place. Most of his time is spent in that chair, left in the maddening silence, while Mikami is out doing whatever it is he does. It's hard to keep track of how long has passed- there are no window and the light in his room is never turned off. He thinks it's been a couple of days (likely a week at least, if he's being honest with himself)- the man holding him hostage seems to have a schedule for looking after him, but he's not sure how much time has passed before he comes back, or when the cycle starts again.

Mikami stops by every once in a while- it seems like a lot of time passes in between but Light knows his perception is distorted. He's likely only gone a couple of hours each time. He feeds Light small pieces of food- either with his hands or with chop sticks. It feels disconcertingly intimate and Light ends up saying he's not hungry more than he'd like to. He feels near starving- those small pieces of food not enough to keep him full- but eating like that is so uncomfortable he can't bear to do it until he's so hungry he can't think.

He brings a water bottle in with the food and Light is much more comfortable taking that when the man is holding it. It's still not completely comfortable, but it's less creepy, and if he's not going to eat, he should at least try to stay hydrated.

There are also bathroom breaks. Every third visit, he's let free from the chair, though his hands are cuffed as soon as the other bonds are loosened, and he's lead down a short hallway. There are two doors- one on the left for the bathroom, and another on the right. He doesn't know where that door leads, just that it is locked. When Mikami leaves he can always hear the jangle of the locks- one on his door and one the door in the hallway.

Being escorted to the bathroom is also an unsettling experience. While Mikami doesn't follow him in or anything as terrifying as that, the door doesn't lock and the man is always close outside. Light has accidentally hit him in the head with the door once, so it's likely that he at least leans on the door while he's waiting outside for Light to finish. It's also a difficult experience for Light to work the taps- to the shower or the sink- because his hands are still cuffed when he does.

Not that he uses the shower often.

To be honest, Light is at a loss. None of the doors are ever left unlocked, the ties that keep him secured to the chair are always tight against his skin and he can't ever seem to disentangle the knots, and he knows at this point that there is no way he can overpower Mikami. Maybe if Mikami had approached him out in the open originally, he would've had a chance.

But Light is a teenager, not yet finished growing, and he's smaller than the man. At this point, he's weak from the hunger and tied down so often and so long that he's clumsy on his feet. That and he has no way of gathering information about what's on the outside of the door on the right of the hallway. It's not impossible that Mikami has other people out there just waiting for him to do something stupid and just charge out there after taking out Mikami- thinking he's safe.

Light just isn't the type to rush into unknowns and hope for the best.

He's jerked out of thought as he hears the lock on the outside door click open. He takes a deep breath to try and calm himself, clenches his fists tight, and desperately hopes the police will get him out of there soon. There isn't anything else he can do.

-=-1-=-

Soichiro Yagami keeps getting tenser. While part of L's mind, the part that tries to empathize sometimes, says that it is just worry about his son that is making him act strangely, the other part of his mind (most of it really) that picks everything apart to pieces, says that there's something else going on there. It makes him question the man. It makes him suspicious. While Yagami may not intentionally tell anyone confidential information, stress often makes people less careful with their words.

L isn't sure there is a leak in the task force- in fact, he kind of doubts it, but with Yagami acting so strangely, he can't let there even be a chance that there is. So, he asks the FBI in the U.S. to help in the case. With a case like this, they're eager to help, so he sends them to tail the families of his task force members. He'd like to make sure that the case is airtight.

While this is going on, he's busy figuring out another method for finding Kira's location. His attempts with the broadcast hadn't been working out. He'd tried doing that in other suspected locations but nothing has turned up and at this point he's certain nothing will. It's obviously time to take a different angle.

At this point, they actually know the times that Kira is most likely to kill people. He always appears to set some of his murders at either 8:00 or 10:30 PM. There's no telling when he will last kill people in the night, but those are at least the most common times.

There were really no hints as to what the murder method was, but L had some ideas that he hoped to test.

Another issue is that the case has become international. While people are still being killed occasionally in Japan, deaths by Kira's had have spread to China. L doesn't think that Kira has left his base of operations in Japan, but he can't be sure. He has to find a way of sniffing the killer out.

It takes some thought, but he makes his decision.

-=-2-=-

Misa had been having a good week so far. She'd been on a couple more dates with Ukita. He was charming and pleasant and she'd been having a lot of fun with him. They'd gone to a park, to the movies, and to various restaurants. She'd had to go in some form of disguise for most of them, but Hirokazu understood.

While she was the type to be loud about what relationship she was in, she couldn't afford her fans finding out, much less the media. If her manager heard about this from some gossip rag, Misa would be hanged.

She might have gotten away with it if he'd been some popstar or actor, but Ukita was only a policeman. He wasn't the most stunning to look at either. She wasn't ashamed of him- she'd be talking about him to everyone she knew if she could- but she knew she couldn't afford to take a media hit. The agency she worked for would drop her like a hot potato if her fans made a fuss.

Even though she's genuinely charmed by him during these dates- Misa has also been pressing to see what he's willing to reveal about his police work. It took a couple of dates to get him to reveal anything, but then he'd almost immediately told her that he was on the Kira case.

She'd given the expected reaction, a shocked gasp, and asked him, "Isn't that scary? You must be really brave!"

Red in the face, he'd shyly said, "It's scary, yeah. But it's the right thing to do. We need to find him and put the killings to a stop."

"A lot of people think Kira is a good guy though, killing all those criminals," she prompted, trying not to be too obvious about her leanings.

"Well, I don't think it's bad to kill criminals," he said, scratching his head, "I just think that the judicial system should make those choices."

"I see!" she said.

She was pleased enough with that result. He might not be a Kira supporter, but he could probably become one- or, at least, she hoped so. She liked him, and his views weren't bad, just different. She'd try her best to sway him over to her side.

She didn't want to have to kill him if she had to kill L, after all.

-=-3-=-

Misa got home late. Her latest shoot had been tiring and time consuming. She got a hot cup of tea, set it on the coffee table, and sat down on the couch to write some names before bed, idly turning on the TV.

She had written about ten names when there was an emergency broadcast. Her head snapped up when she heard the alarm from the TV.

"We advise residents of the Kanto region to stay indoors. Three dangerous criminals have escaped police custody and are believed to be in the area."

A picture of a man appeared on the screen.

"This is Haru Ito. He was apprehended after killing a family within their own home."

His name was spelled out on the screen, only small letters, but he was left on the screen long enough for Misa to jot the name down in her deathnote. Another picture appeared on the screen.

"This is Ryota Kato. He was tried and found guilty of murder."

No writing was on this picture, so Misa wrote down all the different spellings she could think of for the name, hoping that one killed this man. The screen changed again- this face had writing for the name, which she was immensely thankful for.

"Lastly, this is Sota Saito."

She wrote the name.

"If you see any of these men please flee the area and call the police as quickly as possible. If you are at home or at work, please stay inside until we give the all clear."

The broadcast ended. Misa tucked the book away, turned off the TV, and went to get ready for bed. She was glad to have stopped those men- hopefully they hadn't been able to cause anyone harm before she'd gotten to them.

Misa went to bed that night feeling accomplished.

-=-4-=-

Back at the base, L grinned.

Kira had fallen right into his trap.


	10. In Need of Rescue

_A/N: I'm sorry for changing the tense on you guys half way through the story. I'm having a really hard time sticking to present tense so I'm switching over to the easiest way for me to write, which is in past tense._

 _Also, um. Before you read this chapter I want you to know that things are going to get better for Light soon. Don't lose hope!_

-=-0-=-

A door slammed. Light jerked awake in his chair. He could hear the lock jangling and a shiver made its way down his spine. He'd heard that lock open dozens of times and Mikami was always precise- never wasting time. A click and then he'd be in.

There was the sound of keys clattering against each other and his apprehension grew. It continued for a couple more moments, Light's eyes locked on the door.

Finally, it creaked open. Mikami stumbled in. He was messy and something seemed… wrong somehow. It looked like someone had spilled their drink on him and he hadn't cleaned himself up before coming back in. There were also… chunks of something spattered on his jacket. He stepped into the light of the room.

It took a moment for Light's sleep muddled brain to understand what it was that dirtied his clothes and face. He shivered and pressed his back hard against the chair when he realized, trying to get as far from the man as possible. Mikami didn't seem to notice, too absorbed in his mission to consider what Light was feeling.

"God. _God_ ," Mikami said, reaching out a shaking hand and stumbling closer, "I did your work today. I killed those heathens, just like I knew you would want."

Light shivered as a hand ran through his hair, smearing blood and god knew what else in it. The smell of copper invaded Light's senses as fingers trailed down to stroke his face gently.

"Kira, tell me you're proud of me." He tugged the gag down, looming over the teen as his fingers pressed into his cheek. "Tell me you want me."

Light struggled to breathe, to keep tears from escaping his watering eyes- he couldn't afford to break down. He didn't know what Mikami would do if he didn't give him what he wanted. He pulled on his mask- the face he wore every day, no matter where he went. He struggled for a moment before he managed a smile.

"Mikami," he murmured, "You're perfect."

"Really?" Mikami's voice shook.

"Do you think I would lie to you?"

"No, God. I promise- I wasn't- I didn't-"

"Mikami."

Mikami's teeth clicked as he snapped his mouth shut.

"You were wonderful. You did everything I could've asked for."

Mikami's hand moved lower, his palm pressing against Light's throat for a moment. His other hand was still hidden from view. Light shivered at the quiet threat. Mikami's eyes were locked on his, looking for something. Light didn't know what. He swallowed dryly and, terrified, he decided to try again.

"I'm so proud of you Mikami. You did so well for me."

Something seemed to break and Mikami sunk to his knees, his head hanging and his hands pressing against Light's thighs. He felt the press of a knife in the hand that had been hidden from him before. He froze in terror.

It was hard to think. He didn't know what to do. He shook quietly, trying not to let Mikami realize exactly how panicked he was.

"God, help me." Mikami whispered. His hands were burning hot on Light's legs.

"What…" Light had to stop and start again, fighting down the feeling of horror at what was happening to him, "What do you need?"

"Help me," Mikami repeated, "I need, I need to get this heathen's blood off of my skin."

Mikami pushed himself up, arms shaking from the effort. He reached around Light, body pressing against his and breath brushing against the teen's throat. He first cut through the ropes around his ankles, and then to the one tying his cuffed wrists to the chair.

Light shivered as the knife brushed past his skin and Mikami pressed closer against him, but didn't react otherwise, still holding on to his composure (even if only by his fingertips at this point).

"Of course, Mikami," he said, trying hard not to think of the implications of what he was agreeing to, "I'll help you get cleaned up."

Mikami sighed with relief and Light heard the jangling of keys. He heard the cuffs clatter to the ground and couldn't breathe for a moment- overwhelmed with sudden optimism. Mikami was completely letting him loose- he could run, he could get out of here, _he could_ -

He couldn't do anything, he was reminded as Mikami wrapped his arms around his shoulders. The man had a knife. There was no way that Light could get the keys away from him and still live to run. He choked on a quiet sob. He fought the tears back. He was a proud person- there was no way he was going to let himself break down here.

Finally, Mikami let him go and got to his feet. He grabbed Light's hand from where it'd been hanging at his side and pulled him to his feet. Light could only follow listlessly as he was led to the room with the bath, Mikami whispering sweet praises into his ear as they went.

There was nothing else he could do, after all.

-=-1-=-

L grinned. Kira had finally made a mistake- one which he was going to exploit to the fullest.

He'd had theories about Kira which had needed testing, and he now had good data to go on. He'd had a broadcast of three criminals who were already on death row to test Kira's capabilities- and all of them had done crimes which would no doubt push the killer into action.

The first one, Haru Ito, had both his name and face displayed on the broadcast. He was dead so soon as these were on the TV, meaning that Kira could kill people instantly given the right information. Ryota Kato was next. Only his face was on the screen, no name. He still died not long after, but it took significantly more time. Lastly, Sota Saito's face and name were displayed- except that his actual name was Kenta Saito. He was the only one out of the three who had not died.

This meant that names were somehow meaningful for Kira's process. L didn't know how these murders were being committed, but now he had a solid lead to follow.

Kira was on limited time.

-=-2-=-

Misa smiled prettily across the table at Hirokazu as he talked about his day. Ryuk wasn't with them this time, which was sort of a relief. Misa loved the shinagami, but it was always awkward when there was a third person along for a date (even if only one person could see them).

"How's work going?" she asked, voice low.

"It's been going really well, actually," Hirokazu said, "We might actually have a solid lead on Kira for once."

Misa pointedly did not freak out. She went still for a moment, trying to figure out a response that wouldn't make her sound suspicious.

"Do you think…" she trailed off, unsure.

"What?" he asked, concern obvious. It wasn't like Misa to be hesitant or quiet.

"Do you think catching Kira is really a good thing?"

Hirokazu's eyes widened. "What?"

Misa fiddled with her hands nervously. "Well," she said, "Kira's only been hurting criminals right? Is that such a bad thing?"

"Someone can't just go around murdering criminals," said Hirokazu, but he didn't look sure of his statement. "We should let the justice system decide who deserves the death penalty."

"Yeah, but… think of how many criminals get out of prison early, or just don't go to prison at all. Misa Misa doesn't know, it just seems like… like Kira is trying to make the world safer for everyone."

"I think so too," he said, "but we can't just let him keep doing this."

"Why not?"

Hirokazu looked at a loss for words. "We just can't! It's not right."

Misa nodded along, letting it slide. She didn't want to make a big scene when they were out on a date. She liked Hirokazu, and she needed him for information- she didn't want to get in a fight that would make him break up with her.

She just hoped he would put some thought into what she'd said.

-=-3-=-

 _A/N: I went ahead and made a banner for the fic as I'm sure you've noticed. If you want to check out the full sized version you can find it on my deviantart- I'm bunny500 over there too._

 _Also, thank you all for the reviews! You guys keep this fic going. (An especially big thanks to cheeseandhamburger, it was really sweet that you left a comment on every chapter! You seriously lifted my spirits)_


	11. Unexpected Perspective

Ryuk drifted, phasing through the wall of Misa's apartment yet again. Things felt… boring. Ryuk was sick and tired of being bored, but he knew how hard it was to find good entertainment. It just didn't seem worth the effort half the time.

Misa was… nice. For a human.

But now she was busy all the time. Between setting up secret little dates with her boyfriend, writing names as Kira, and keeping up with her ever busier modeling career, she just didn't have time to do anything interesting, or even just hang out with Ryuk. He did believe in sticking near to the human who held his death note, but with Misa so busy there was hardly a point to him being around all the time.

He hated to say it, but he felt neglected.

He pouted insomuch as he could and flew over to the next street, settling up on a lamp post. Listlessly, he watched people go about their business.

He heard the soft flapping of wings, and turned his head just in time to see a fellow Shinigami land beside him mid-air. Ryuk stared, not quite sure if he was amused or annoyed at his fellow death god's appearance.

"Rem," he said, trying not to let his confusion be too obvious in his voice, "What are you doing here?"

She took a moment to respond, her eyes scanning the neighborhood in slow sweeps. "Funny thing, a Shinigami running around on Earth."

"Well, I did drop my death note."

"Yes. You did." Ryuk ignored the judging note in her voice. "Any Shinigami can sense and find their death note within minutes though."

She eyed him, "You have been here for weeks."

He grinned shamelessly. "A death god's got to enjoy the scenery sometime, right?"

Rem hummed. It wasn't an agreeing sort of noise.

They sat in silence for a long while. Rem eyed the meandering humans with something like disgust while Ryuk searched for something interesting to look at while he waited for her to get to the point. He was watching in amusement as a mother tried to lead her four children down the street in an orderly fashion when Rem finally spoke.

"Why are you here, Ryuk?"

Ryuk struggled not to laugh. So she'd decided to be direct this time. "What, a Shinigami can't spend some time in the human realm without becoming suspicious?"

"We both know that you're not here just to look around. You're up to something. Just like always."

"What, me?"

"Ryuk, quit the act," Rem nearly growled, "I know you've been hanging around with that human girl."

"Human girl? What do you care about Misa?"

Rem said nothing, turning to stare at the street instead as she fumed.

"What, do you think I'm giving Shinigami a bad name or something?" Ryuk prodded, twisting around to try and get a better look at her expression from his perch on the light post. "I've done this before, you know. This human isn't any different from the rest."

Rem finally looked at him, her visible eye narrowed. "This isn't a joke Ryuk. That girl is… special."

"You know her?" asked Ryuk, startled.

"No." Rem shook her head and looked away again. Ryuk stared in complete surprise as a death note was suddenly thrust in front of his face.

"What's this?" he asked, taking it from her out-stretched hand. "Do you want to die or something?"

Rem still wasn't looking at him, and when she responded, her voice was whisper soft. "That note isn't mine Ryuk. Your human… she is its rightful owner.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you Ryuk. If that human dies, if she gets hurt… I won't forgive you."

Rem disappeared in a flap of wings. Ryuk stared at the death note in his hands. He couldn't help but laugh. Maybe things weren't going to be so boring after all.

-=-1-=-

Raye Penber cringed as Sayu Yagami slammed the front door behind her.

He'd been sent to investigate the Yagami family in relation to the Kira case, and he honestly felt terrible about it. This family appeared to be under immense stress, what with the disappearance of their oldest child. Light Yagami was sorely missed by his family.

He fell into step after the fourteen year old girl once again. At least the job wasn't difficult. They were already all so stressed that they payed little attention to their surroundings- perhaps especially Sayu.

The fact that her brother was still missing was unusual. After a month, most criminals would've asked for some sort of ransom, or, alternatively, already dumped the body somewhere. Light, however, was still gone, with no signs as to where he'd been taken. The trail had gone cold and it looked like it would just be another case of a child going missing, never to be found. It happened more than anyone in law enforcement would like to admit.

All of them were struggling to keep up with their day to day lives, but Sayu was the one taking the brunt of the damage.

Her father was never home, between the time he spent on the task force and the time looking for answers about where his son been taken, and her mother did nothing but sit at home next to the phone in case someone called with a hint at her son's location. Sayu was skipping school often, half of the time staying home to look after her mother, and the other half spent running all over town with friends.

Raye had seen her try drinking and smoking, she wasn't being careful at all about who she was spending time with, and she'd gone to a couple of parties. While most teens did experiment at this age, Sayu was getting out of hand.

After all, neither of her parents were paying close enough attention to her to notice that she was having problems. While her parents did, obviously, care about her, they didn't pay any attention to what she was doing outside of the house so long as she got home on time.

That, if nothing else, was the final nail in the coffin. Sayu desperately missed her brother, but even so, she was jealous. Jealous that he had always been perfect, but more so in that now that he was missing and her parents had no time for her at all. She was lashing out and trying to get their attention- to be punished or helped, Raye didn't know- but she needed it.

She was torn between her love for her family and her anger at what it was. Raye couldn't say he blamed her.

He sighed as he saw her get on the subway. It wasn't the train that led to her school. Easy or not, this job was emotionally exhausting. He got on the train and tried not to think about how miserable the teen he was watching felt.

-=-2-=-

Yuta was a perfectly normal police officer. He worked in the Missing Persons Department but otherwise there was nothing about him that stood out, really. Which is what made it so overwhelming that he'd been put on the case of the _police chief's_ missing son.

Another department had been on the case for the first two weeks, but then it'd been passed along to him (or rather, a task force which he was a part of). And, really, Yuta and his team were doing their best. There just… was nothing to go on.

It'd been hard, especially when the chief himself came in to ask if they'd found anything. They hadn't.

Which was why it was astonishing that he found a significant piece of evidence in the fourth week after the teen had disappeared.

He'd actually found it by accident. He'd been looking through files on the day that Light Yagami had gone missing, searching for any sort of evidence at all, when he came across a complaint about suspicious behavior. It hadn't seemed important, until he saw a name he recognized. The complaint was filed by an elderly couple who lived in the apartment next door to Mikami Teru. Who'd been filed as missing just a day after Light's disappearance.

He didn't think much of it, but decided to see if there was any street cam footage in that area. He hadn't really thought he would find anything.

He discovered footage of that evening from a camera placed across the street from the lawyer's apartment building.

Teru could be seen moving around his apartment, throwing various things into a large bag. Yuta's eyes widened as he saw what Mikami was packing.

Knives, multiple packs of latex gloves, black clothing, and chemicals, just to name a few.

Being disconcerted by the video, he was quick to hand it over to the group investigating Teru's disappearance- with a suggestion to check his apartment to see if there were any signs of criminal activity, of course.

He hadn't thought they would come back from that apartment to hand _him_ evidence. Much less something like this.

Inside of the apartment there was a… shrine, there was no better word for it, for Light Yagami. Throughout Teru's bedroom, investigators had found dozens of pictures of the teenager- some of them cut from newspapers, some of them pictures from afar that presumably Mikami had shot. There was a journal too, detailing his finding of god- of Kira. Who he apparently thought Light Yagami was.

There had also been a list of names, each one crossed off. A quick search on the names revealed only murder victims. Things had very quickly spiraled out of control after that, as his group had leapt onto the lead and started panicking over what kind of man might have Light.

Yuta was a perfectly normal, upstanding citizen. When did he get involved in crazy cases like these?

-=-3-=-

 _A/N: A quick note- Yuta is a made up character. He won't be showing up again after this chapter._

 _Thank you everyone for the favs, follows, and comments! I hope you like this chapter, even if it doesn't involve our 3 main characters so much._

 _Cheeseandhamburger: Thanks! I'm really glad you like the banner. Yeah, Light's life kind of sucks right now._

 _Snowgem33: Your review is just fine! Thanks for checking this fic out :D Yeah… I'm pretty sure Light's going to have a grudge against Kira after all this._

 _Guest: Thank you, I'm happy you like it! Yeah, I hadn't seen many fics with Misa as a believable villain, so I thought I would give it a shot. I'll try to update as quickly as possible, but with me it's pretty hit or miss lol_

 _Konoichiqueen1609: While Misa/Ukita is going to be a pairing in this fic, it isn't going to be the main focus at all- their relationship is mostly a plot device to keep the story moving. This isn't really intended to be a romance fic, so I have no end-game pairings planned. Thanks for reading!_

 _Guest 2: Thank you! I'll try to keep updates coming! Don't worry, they should be meeting each other soon!_

 _Fanfiction Lurker 1: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! It's pretty hard to think of investigative methods that L could use that would still be reasonable._


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